Closure for rubber drums



May 27, 1941. K. F. FAY ETAL CLOSURE FOR RUBBER DRUMS s I. s RMM Y OF N r. E m; m EMU o v T NM T Q 2 0 M I W Filed March 4, 1939 WITNESS fiWJi Patented May 27, 1941 CLOSURE FOR RUBBER DRUMS Kenneth F. Fay and Warren L. Odenwelder, Eaton. Pa., asslgnors. by mesne assignments, to The Pennsylvania Salt MannfacturingCompany, Philadelphia County, Pa., a corporation of Pennsylvania Application March 4, 1939, Serial No. 259,714

1 Claim.

This invention relates to closures for rubber drums such as are used, for example, in the handling of hydrofluoric and muriatic acids. Drums for this purpose are usually made of a soft flexible rubber and are often lined with a synthetic rubber capable of withstanding the corrosive action of the acids. The top walls of such drums are usually provided with integrally formed rubber necks through which the contents of the drums can be removed with the aid of rubber nozzles or siphon pipes. Due to the soft flexible alities of the rubber material forming such neg} and the nature of the materials carried by thligrums, considerable difllculty has been encountered-by the art in providing a closure for such drum necks which is inexpensive to make and can be applied readily to the drum neck and yet can be depended upon to maintain a closure of this invention will become more apparent after a perusal of the following description taken in connection with the accompanying drawing in which Fig. 1 is a side elevation showing the closure assembled on the neck of a-rubber liquid tight seal during the handling of the drum and will last as long as the drum itself. The

closures that have heretofore been used extensively for this purpose were either rubber plugs provided with external threads adapted to threadedly engage internal screw threads provided in the inner walls of the rubber necks of the drums or metal closures consisting of an externally threaded annular or ring member mounted omthe neck of the drum beneath an external flange provided on the outer end of such neck and a cap member adapted to be screwed on the annular member so that the flange of the neck was clamped therebetween. Both of these types of closure are too expensive for the purposes for which they were devised and in order to open and close such closures it is necessary to use a large clumsy wrench. A further disadvantage of these constructions is that their usefulness was short lived because of the corrosive action of the acids carried by such drums, the acid swelling the threads on both the neck and the stopper in the plug type of closure thereby not only destroying the usefulness of the stopper but also making it necessary to have the whole drum replaced, whereas in the second type of closure, the corrosive action of the acid on the metal would cause the threads of the cap to become stuck to the threads of the annular member so that the cap could not be unscrewed. Furthermore the cap type of closure heretofore in use had the tendency to pop off the rubber neck of the drum whenever the drum was dropped or bounced on the ground during handling.

It is the purpose of the present invention to provide an improved form of metal closure which is relatively inexpensive to make, can be atdrum; Fig. 2 is a top plan view of the parts shown in Fig. 1; Fig. 3 is a vertical section taken along the line 3-3 of Fig. 2 and Fig. 4 is a top plan view similar to Fig. 2 with the closure cap removed.

In the drawing the neck of the drum is designated by the reference character ill and, as is usual, is integrally formed with the top wall ii of the drum which is only partially shown. The closure, including the neck i0 and the top wall ii, is made of a soft flexible rubber, the interior wall of which may be lined with a synthetic rubber capable of withstanding the corrosive action of the acids to be contained in such drum, such for example, as the synthetic rubber known as Neoprene manufactured by E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Company. The upper or outer end of the neck I0 is provided with an outwardly extending flange it to which is clamped the closure of this invention.

The closure comprises a collar or annular retaining member l3 which is mounted on the neck of the drum beneath the flange i2 thereof and a cap member it which seats on the neck flange i2 and is secured to the annular retaining member l3 with the flange l2 disposed therebetween. The members l3 and H may be made of any kind of suitable material but it is preferred to make them of bronze so as to make them resistant to corrosion. The annular retaining member i3 has an outside diameter greater than the outside diameter of the flange I2 and an inside diameter at the circumferential line which forms the juncture between the upper surface l5 thereof and the interior wall 16 thereof approximately the same as the exterior diameter of the neck i0 so that the exterior surfaces of the neck iii are snugly engaged by the retaining member l3 along such line of juncture. The interior wall i6 of the member i3 tapers outwardly from the upper surface l5 of such member so at the circumferential line which forms the juncture between such wall and the under surface ll of the member, the inside diameter oi the retaining member (18 is only slightly smaller than the outside diameter oi the flange 12. in the construction illustrated, the irusto-conicaily she interior wall it oi the annular member it has a taper oi approximately fifteen degrees with the vertical. An advantage of constructing the re= taining member E3 in this to is that it makes it possible to slip the meber over the flange it at the neck, the tapered inner wall 66 of member facilitating this operation as will be readily apparent. By iorming the member iii so that it provides a snug fit at the junction of the lower surface of the flange i2 with the exterior wall oi the neck it, the flange is prevented tram slipping through such member and will retain the same on the neck it through even the roughest handling oi the rubber drum.

The retaining member i3 is provided with two outwardly extending lugs or ears i8, i8 which are each provided with an angular-1y shaped opening it, preferably square, adapted to receive snugly the angular shank portion of a carriage bolt 20. lf'he threaded stems of the bolts 20 extend up through aligned circular openings provided in the outwardly extending lugs or ears 2| of the cap member l4 and have screwed on their upper ends the nuts 22.

The cap member II which has an outside diameter greater than that of the flange i2 and substantially equal to the outside diameter of the retaining member I3, is provided with a recess 23 in its under surface which is circular in form and has a diameter only slightly greater than the outside diameter of the flange i2 so that the latter may be readily inserted therein. Cemented to the inner wall of the recess 23 is a rubber gasket 24 which is preferably composed of a synthetic rubber material, such as Neoprene" and which prevents the contents of the drum from coming into contact with the metallic material of which the closure members l3 and H are formed.

From the foregoing, it will be evident that by reason of the tapered inner wall i6 01' the retaining member l3, such member can be readily assembled on the neck of the drum even though the smallest diameter of such tapered wall is materially less than the outside diameter of the flange l2 and that when the cap member II is properly positioned in place with the flange l2 in the recess 23 and the nuts 22 tightened, such flange will be compressed between the upper surface l of the retaining member l3 and the interior suri Removal of the cap member 86 is readily aciaees oi the recess 23 to provide a liquid-tight seal between the nest; of the t1; the rubleer gasket 2263. By tong the retaining memher it so it a snug flt is provided at the line of juncture oi? the its: and the the eiure am i be eeely aneho so that it cen not mp on even when the dropped areciable distances tor example if fleet. The efiectiveuess oi the anchorage can be iurther eancedby provid I! annular groove 2% on the top surface it oi the retai 10:11:; member i8. so that when the upper or cap member it is secured in position on the i ihllsli a portion oi the rubber material of which the fiae i2 is constituted will m forced into the groove.

oomplished by unloosing the nuts 22 on the bolts it, the gularly shaped openings ii in the lugs or ears i8 preventing the bolts from turning during this operation. As the distance between the undersurface of the retaining member i2 and the top wall ll of the drum is appreciably smaller than the length of the bolts 20 even in the assembled condition of the closure, the bolts will not fall out or become lost during the period that the cap member is removed.

We claim:

In a closure for a receptacle and in combination, a receptacle neck made of resilient rubber or the like and provided at its outer end with an annular, outwardly extending flange, a rigid. unitary, annular retaining member positioned on the neck beneath the flange thereof, said retaining member having an upper wall in engagement with substantially the entire area of the undersurface of the flange and having an inner wall which tapers outwardly from said upper face of such member, the diameter of the member at the upper end of the inner wall thereof being approximately the same as the exterior diameter of the neck of the receptacle and the diameter of the member at the lower end of the inner wall thereof being approximately the same as that of the outside diameter of said flange, a cap member having a shallow recess in its under surface adapted to receive the flange of the receptacle neck, a gasket in. the bottom of the shallow recess in the cap member for closing the opening in such neck, and means for securing said retaining and cap members together to clamp the flange of the neck therebetween.

KENNE'IH F. FAY. WARREN L. ODENWELDER. 

